NILES, IL – May 16, 2012 – AFN, a rapidly expanding logistics and supply chain company, is actively hiring to fill more than 70 positions at its headquarters in Niles, just outside of Chicago. The positions to be filled include entry-level openings in the next session of AFN’s five week long training class which starts June 11, 2012.

AFN, which has won numerous industry and workplace awards, including being named one of the “Top 100 Workplaces in Chicago”, is on track to add almost 50% more staff in 2012. According to Kira Meinzer, Vice President of Human Resources, “The logistics industry is booming and we’re aggressively hiring high energy self-starters with an entrepreneurial spirit for positions in human resources, procurement and operations. All offer growth opportunities at a great company in a growth industry and the ability to shape one’s own career.” AFN offers employees many benefits including ongoing training, a casual dress code, an onsite fitness center and a generous rewards package.

AFN uses sophisticated analytics to help manufacturers and retailers get products on store shelves in the quickest, safest, greenest and most cost-effective ways possible. The company works with 8 of the largest 10 retailers in the U.S. and was recently named to the 2012 List of “100 Great Supply Chain Projects” by Supply & Demand Chain Executive in recognition of its leadership as a premier solution and service provider in the industry.

Through its employees, AFN actively supports several Chicago-based charities, including Children’s Memorial Hospital and Rolfe Pancreatic Cancer Foundation and is involved in many other community efforts such as Earth Day, LifeSource Blood Drives and toy drives during the holiday season.

Interested applicants should log onto AFN’s career website at www.loadafn.com/careers to search for the types of positions that fit their qualifications. For consideration, candidates must apply online.

About AFN
Serving motor carriers, manufacturers and retailers since 2003, AFN (formerly known as Advantage Freight Network) is an award-winning leader in freight brokerage, third party logistics and transportation management services. Currently, AFN counts 8 of the 10 largest retailers among its clients. We are known for our commitment to client service, our proactive approach to fighting cargo theft and our expertise in retail compliance.

To learn more about AFN, visit http://www.loadafn.com. Job seekers are asked to submit their information directly on the website at www.loadafn.com/careers.

“We’re very honored by this designation,” said Michael Nervick, CEO and Founder of AFN. “We pride ourselves on continuously challenging the status quo to help customers improve their bottom line and this award recognizes our effort”. 

AFN uses sophisticated analytics to help manufacturers and retailers get products on store shelves in the quickest, safest, greenest and most cost-effective ways possible. The company works with 8 of the largest 10 retailers in the U.S. “Logistics and supply chain strategies are less about getting a product from point A to point B and more about eliminating unnecessary steps,” added Nervick. “This award is based on our work with a leading manufacturer who outsourced transportation to AFN and, as a result, reduced costs and increased customer satisfaction.” Download the case study here: http://www.loadafn.com/afn-news-and-research/afn-news/learn-how-afn-helped-our-client-save-10-on-transportation-costs/

For this year’s “Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100″ award, the magazine highlighted transformation projects that have had a significant impact on a company’s’ bottom line. Through an online submission process, the magazine collected information on supply chain transformation projects, including data on the objectives, scope, timeline and results of the project. Submissions were evaluated based on: ambitiousness/scope of the project (30 percent); creative application of technologies/solutions/services used (20 percent); extent of the business results/impact (40 percent); clarity of submission (10 percent). For more about the award, see www.SDCExec.com.

About AFN
Serving motor carriers, manufacturers and retailers since 2003, AFN (formerly known as Advantage Freight Network) is an award-winning leader in freight brokerage, third party logistics and transportation management services. Currently, AFN counts 8 of the 10 largest retailers among its clients. We are known for our commitment to client service, our proactive approach to fighting cargo theft and our expertise in retail compliance.

To learn more about AFN, visit http://www.loadafn.com or call 877-LOAD-AFN. For information about career opportunities at AFN, visit the career page on the website: www.loadafn.com/careers/. For information about our customer solutions, contact Megan Roberts (mroberts@afnww.com) or Michael Link (mlink@afnww.com).

Contact Information

AFN Marketing, Lorelei Hudson
AFN, LLC
marketing@afnww.com
1-224-515-7400

The overall aim of CSA is commendable.  FMCSA’s ultimate goal of reducing commercial motor vehicle crashes, fatalities, and injuries benefits drivers, carriers, shippers, brokers, insurers and the general public. The methodology FMCSA uses to develop the BASICs scores that ultimately impact carriers’ safety ratings, however, have generated heated discussion (to say the least).  But CSA is a fact of life and we need to turn our attention to actions that carriers can take now to ensure compliance. These are common sense measures.  None are inexpensive in the short term.  But, in the long term, the payoffs extend way beyond compliance.

Go Electronic.  Logbook accuracy has long been an industry issue. Paper and pencil logbooks can be altered. So many carriers are now switching to EOBRs (Electronic On Board Recorders) to reduce the temptation inherent in the traditional honor system and also prepare in the event that EOBRs eventually become mandatory. Unfortunately, there is a backlog on the devices.

Invest in equipment.  Putting a good driver in a bad truck doesn’t solve safety problems. In fact, in today’s competitive labor market, it may be difficult to hire qualified and reliable drivers in the first place if your equipment isn’t as safe as the next guy’s.  

Beyond using new vehicles as a recruiting tool, of course, is the bigger issue of safety. New trucks don’t come cheap and banks aren’t giving out loans like they used to. Spending an additional $10-20K per new truck to add safety features can be hard to swallow even if you explore various financing options as several of our carriers are doing. When purchasing new equipment, however, prioritizing “must have” versus “nice to have” features, makes good business – and good safety –  sense.  Plus, it’s likely to save you money in the long run.

Maintain.  In the short term, setting up stringent maintenance schedules can be challenging. Taking vehicles off the road for routine checks costs money.  But maintenance programs can save you lots of headaches, dollars and bad scores if you can catch and fix the small problems before they become big ones.  You may also identify ways to improve fuel-efficiency or even negotiate better insurance rates.

Invest in people.  It’s hard to find good drivers these days and just as hard to keep them. But, if you select your people carefully, incent them well, put them in safe equipment and offer them training on, for example, securing loads properly, your turnover will improve – and it’s a lot less likely that you will get that dreaded late night phone call.  As far as training specifically on CSA, there are a number of free or low cost resources for drivers available, including this factsheet.

Summary
At AFN, we know that our success depends on your success.  We recently instituted a safety policy to be sure we select only the safest carriers to handle our loads. Plenty of carriers qualify, speaking volumes about the mutual relationships we’ve built with you over the years. In a few cases, where we felt that our carriers’ safety records were jeopardized by technicalities, we opened up a dialog on their behalf with DOT and helped them resolve those issues.  

We also understand the financial dynamics of running your business and know that running a safe fleet can cost more.  That’s why we emphasize “value” with our customers.  No one is willing to sacrifice cost for safety and most are willing to pay for value.  Our team takes that approach in booking their loads.  It makes good sense from both a business perspective and also from a safety and risk perspective.  

Contact Jared Palmer at jpalmer@afnww.com, Chief Legal Counsel, if you have any questions regarding this topic.  We’re happy to hear from you.

For an interesting article on the CSA debate recently published in Inbound Logistics, click here.

Q: You graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.  What brought your career from the skies back to the ground?

My education started a bit later in life. I married my high school sweetheart Carol at the age of 18 (and wife of 31 years now) and passed on college thinking I had the world by the tail.  When you are young you not only think you know everything; you fail to listen to the advice of your parents. But, after about a year and a half of trying to provide a good life for my wife and then soon to be first born, I realized I needed an education or at least some sort of trade. My options were limited at this point so I decided to join the military and pursue a career in Aviation as an Air Traffic Controller. I entered the military as a private, and received my FAA Certification in record time.  However, as a private in the military you were often assigned the less glamorous duties and in most cases never told why. It was early on that I decided that I needed to take another step and so I applied for Officer Candidate School. While rising through the ranks from 2nd Lieutenant to Captain I was given many opportunities to not only pick the tasks that my soldiers would do but in a lot of cases explain to them why they were doing them. Although the military’s philosophy is grounded in the mentality of “just do it”, coming from the ranks had given me a deeper appreciation for the questions that others had. Having held both those roles certainly taught me a lot about leadership and I apply that philosophy to my work today.  There was never a time that I ever dreamed about trucking as a career but I’m really glad it brought me here today.

While in the military I served as an Air Traffic Controller and then later I trained as an Air Defense Officer, qualified in all weapon systems to include the shoulder fired Stinger missiles up to the famed Patriot Missile Defense System.  Even though I enjoyed the military, once our second child was born, while we were stationed in Germany, it became evident that it was going to be difficult to raise a family while on active duty. I was ready for a change but those trades and education I sought seemed almost as distant now as they had 10 years earlier. There wasn’t much need for a person in civilian life that could shoot enemy rockets down with a US missile rocket system.

Fortunately for me, Schneider National was hiring JR military officers and gave me a shot in the civilian world and that was my introduction to transportation and logistics.  In the last 18 years, I have done everything from Operations to Customer Service to Sales and held various leadership roles. All of those different roles, along with some great customers and mentors have allowed me the opportunity to lead Design Transportation.

Q: What are the main changes and challenges you anticipate will impact the transportation business in the next 3 years?

While there are a lot of things that keep us awake at night, top of mind for me are driver shortages, rising fuel costs and governmental regulations.

The shortage of drivers – and I should qualify that and say good drivers – points out a few industry-wide issues.  A few years ago, some still held to the old belief that you put people behind the wheel and make it work.  That’s not an option anymore and we’ve been very proactive in ensuring that we hire the best drivers and staff that are available.  We have very good people who want to be here at Design and contribute to the success of our organization. The average driver age at Design is 43, well below the industry average and for that we are extremely grateful.

But an aging driver fleet is an industry wide concern.  As an industry we typically haven’t done enough to attract good young people to the jobs. On top of that is an industry turnover rate sometimes above 85%.   At Design, we’re trying to change that by running exceptionally nice equipment. The average age of our trucks is 2 years and we are fortunate to be in a position to continue that purchasing model. We also pay above the industry average and pay driver earned bonuses weekly.  And, perhaps most importantly, we treat our drivers not as numbers, but as human beings. We know them by name and, while that shouldn’t be out of the norm, it makes a big difference.  We’re in a growth mode now and have the people and we feel the customers that will help to propel us forward.  Not so much by growing just market share but by the profitable growth of our organization.

Of course, rising fuel costs are also impacting our business and the industry.  There is a huge misconception that fuel surcharges make up for the difference in fuel prices and what the trucker is absorbing. There are some shippers that believe that truckers are actually making money from surcharges and that’s simply not the case. We pay our fuel bills on a daily basis and the rising costs take a bite out of the bottom line. Remember too that a rise in fuel prices is only a small part.  Anything petroleum-based is rising. Tires are up 25%, windshield wipers, oil changes, engine belts, and other maintenance items have also risen, once again impacting the margins on all of our business. The ironic part of our business is that when a shipper needs a load moved, the carrier moves it, absorbs all of the cost up front and then collects those charges hopefully 30 days later.

Finally, government mandates are having an impact as we all know.  Design took a proactive approach and embraced the CSA mandates over a year ago.  In addition to the safety aspect, this has already proven to be a competitive advantage and we know we are ahead of the game as the changes go into effect. Design is 100% EOBR equipped and we use extensive checks and balances to make sure our safety and CSA scores continue to outshine the competition. Design is an active member of the American Trucking Association and other viable organizations. Shippers want, and are aligning themselves with carriers that make safety a priority.

Q: Tell us about your history with AFN…why do you choose to do business with us?

AFN is not your typical logistics company.  It’s young, progressive and innovative and I think it would be exciting to be there right now. I would relate it to the same excitement as it must have been when Steve Jobs was starting Apple.  AFN is making an imprint and approaching the business in a new way.

Our history extends to when I first arrived at Design. The AFN team came out to see me to explain what they do and describe how we can best work together.  It’s been a collaborative relationship from the start and we actually view AFN as a business partner. It’s an overused cliché, I know, but AFN and Design work together in so many areas like safety, security, claims, government regulations and freight.  Unlike some in the business, they don’t shoot a bunch of loads over to see what sticks. They look to use us for freight that fits our network.   It’s an on-going relationship, rather than a transaction and folks like Jared Palmer and Alex Witt have really been instrumental in our success.

Q: Your sales materials state “We believe shipping is not an event but a repeat business process”. How do you put those words into action?

When you have a diverse background like I do, working in so many different roles, it really gives you an appreciation for the other guy. Carriers, shippers and the consignee all have needs and it’s a matter of working together to find that fit. That means that sometimes you do more than expected or do things out of the ordinary. You should always WOW the customer. How does this translate to Design Transportation? It’s doing whatever it takes to make the customer’s experience positive. Challenges, as we all know, are a fact of life in any business. Here, they escalate up the chain for resolution and end with our leadership team. Our folks are so good at finding the reason that a problem existed and to try and make sure it never happens again. As a carrier if you can’t make it a positive experience for the customer, they will look elsewhere. At Design, we know that picking up and delivering the customers freight is a privilege and we never take that lightly.

Q: What would be your best piece of advice for someone just getting into the business?

Stay away! Seriously this business is way more than picking up and delivering on time.  You need to be an expert at many things in order to succeed.  You need, first and foremost, to be a student of human behavior. Our drivers often work two to three weeks at a time and are humans, not machines, and they’re not flawless.  None of us are and if you can admit that upfront you will always be a lot more successful. You also need to understand and be willing to learn the analytics behind the business, from safety to fuel usage to how to economically purchase your equipment.  We just completed a purchase of 75 new tractors, for instance, and went through every spec, line by line, looking for comfort, lighter weight for fuel economy and greater safety so that we can perform better for our customers.

Also, you need to want to work the hours.  This is a start-early and end-late business. Hard work will pay off but you have to be willing to work for it.  Customers have reached out to us because of who we are and what we have accomplished. We do not accept mediocrity or failure as an end result. In an industry where you are often known only by the success of the last load you carried, a long-term reputation is something that must be worked on every day.  We’ve just been named Carrier of the Year for one of our customers for the 10th year running and I think that’s the best validation of our approach.

Finally, surround yourself with the best people in the industry. That’s what I’ve done from drivers, to office staff to customers. I truly am lucky to work with such great professionals!

Oleg’s business philosophy:  “We’re all playing to win. At the end of the day, what’s most important for our carriers is that we help you grow. That means keeping you moving and eliminating as many empty miles as we can. The goal is to get you to the next load – or as close as possible, make it as easy as we can on your drivers to do business with us to help you minimize turn-over down, target consistent runs that make it easier to plan for, and many other things”

And, to win, fair play is critical. We know that the relationships we have with both shippers and carriers needs to be fair on all sides. This is a seasonal business and the market forces of supply and demand will always prevail. So sometimes we all need to adjust pricing to seasonal swings knowing that, at the end of the year, the average cost per load will make money for everyone.  The ‘win’ for all of us is growth.”

His secret to (broker) success.  “I think of my work as operating in a centralized market where my team of procurement reps has insights into this giant virtual network of fleets.  That know-how extends into understanding carrier needs, recording and monitoring them centrally to make the best possible decisions as we match carriers to loads. I’m excited about the new stuff we’re doing on the Business Intelligence front to really understand this market by using analytics to figure out where the trends are and then aligning them with our process. Numbers on paper are just that … numbers. What we’re doing is collecting the data and making those numbers actionable.”

How he got into the business.  “As a kid growing up in Belarus, I won second place in a national physics competition. It set off a chain of events that allowed me come to the U.S. on an exchange program at age 15. That’s when I decided I wanted to get an MBA in the U.S. So, six years later, I enrolled at the University of Tennessee. 

To me, logistics was the most interesting of several academic tracks because of the great potential impact it has on businesses. All those moves – taking raw materials to the plant, product from plant to warehouse to the DC to the store – cost money. The broker provides value to both the customer and the carrier. The customer doesn’t have the ability to reach into the carrier network efficiently unless they are very big. And most carriers often don’t have the capacity to do a big volume lane by themselves so brokers can serve as their sales arm.  Everyone wins by holding each other accountable for maximum efficiency. Studies say as much as 60% of supply chain costs are tied to transportation. The ability to make that kind of impact is what excites me.”

On working at AFN … and a favorite movie.  It’s a high energy and open environment. It’s true that an open floor plan does translate into an open culture. In my job, I’m always working on how to get to the next level of achievement in whatever I do. I believe in setting goals and then visualizing the steps needed to get to that goal. So, my challenge – and I really like challenges! – is to put even more efficient processes and structures in place. The smallest changes can over time lead to incredible change and results.

That’s why I like the movie ‘The Butterfly Effect’. It refers to a theory that a butterfly flapping its wings can start a series of events that results in a hurricane weeks later. It definitely appeals to my way of thinking that a small change today can lead to really big things tomorrow.”

To read Oleg’s bio, click here.

Recently, LG Electronics USA hosted the first Security Council.  The meeting was held at AFN’s offices and various members of the law enforcement community from California, Texas and Illinois were in attendance.  Also participating in the meeting were several key providers of the LG supply chain, including AFN’s General Counsel, LG’s Director of North American Security and C-TPAT Compliance, LG’s Director of Transportation, the Operations Manager for LG’s Mobile Communication division and representatives from CargoNet.  Each member of the Security Council was chosen based on their role in LG’s supply chain and expertise in combating cargo theft and other supply chain risks.  Meetings will be held quarterly and site locations will alternate.

The goal of this effort is for LG to emerge as the leader in combating cargo theft and eliminate any potential threats to its supply chain.  LG has taken a very proactive and realistic approach to eradicate cargo theft rings that may be working in areas within their supply chain network.  AFN will use its contacts in law enforcement, the National Insurance Crime Bureau, and various technology providers, to act as the liaison between LG and law enforcement agencies working on active bait freight and sting trailer operations.  These bait freight and sting trailer operations will be launched covertly across various parts of the United States to actively and aggressively stop cargo theft rings that threaten LG’s supply chain.

Additionally, the LG Security Council will work on addressing legislative issues on both a local and national level to try and fix the imbalance between the risk of committing these crimes and the rewards.  Ultimately, LG is taking this proactive stance on security to send a strong message that crime simply doesn’t pay.  For more information about this initiative, please contact Jared Palmer at jpalmer@afnww.com.

In one instance, AFN was able to help a retail client reduce overall transportation costs, increase on time deliveries and reduce retailer fines for non-compliance. If you would like to learn more, just enter in your contact information in the fields below, and we’ll send you a detailed case study.

At AFN we pride ourselves on our ability to continually raise the bar in terms of our commitment to customer service. One aspect of our world class customer service is focused on our Carrier Compliance process, which entails using the safest and most reliable motor carriers to move our customers’ freight. It has been widely accepted over the years that our government (through the FMCSA) is in the best position and is most qualified to certify the operational safety and fitness of U.S. motor carriers. However, a recent appellate court ruling (1) threatens to expand potential liability for shippers and logistics companies and (2) suggests that additional steps should be taken with respect to retaining motor carriers to haul freight.

While there have been no formal government pronouncements or rules or regulations supporting an inquiry beyond that of the accepted Safety Rating, we’ve decided to supplement our due diligence efforts concerning the fitness of our current and future motor carriers. We’ve taken this step out of an abundance of caution to further protect the safety interests of our customers, the public, our carriers, and AFN.  As a result, we’ve developed a Motor Carrier Safety Policy to address the growing concerns raised by the courts. 

For questions or to receive a copy of this policy, please contact Jared Palmer at jpalmer@afnww.com.

1. Avoid reinventing the wheel. Currently, we are working with one customer to develop a new process to manage stock issues by minimizing wasted or redundant efforts in their supply chain. The process will help ensure that all parties have the necessary information/product to plan shipments at the lowest cost option.
2. Map your supply chain. We always work with our customers to ensure that stops along their supply routes are well planned out. This helps save on transportation costs, and often saves time as well.
3. Evaluate your packing. While it’s important to use as few packaging materials as possible, we are also focused on ensuring that our customers’ products arrive safely and without damage. When needed, we conduct packaging studies to test which options best enable the product to arrive in optimum condition. Our expertise might be applied to reviewing the pallet configuration, load locks, airbags or conducting a stretch wrap analysis. In one instance, we implemented air bags for a customer’s shipments. This solution kept the product safe, and offered a more cost effective and faster solution than changing the product packaging itself.
4. Optimize your transport modes. We analyze each customer’s business goals to see which modes of transportation, or combinations of modes, will work best to create the lowest cost per unit/lb while still maintaining service levels.
5. Consolidate and maximize space. At AFN, we utilize multiple stops, consolidated LTL shipments and pools to maximize efficiencies.  Additionally, we continually review our customers’ analytics to find new ways to help them meet their goals.
6. Tune in to technology. Our EDI system transmits shipping information in real-time. This helps our customers gain visibility into each shipment. We have an in-house EDI specialist on hand to make these transitions simple and easy.
7. Assess your assembly strategy. When necessary, our team can review our customers’ assembly process to evaluate options and select the most effective one.
8. Go paperless where possible. We are focused on doing our part to help the environment and conserve paper. AFN processes all claims via email, and our EDI invoicing is entirely paperless.
9. Know your role in reverse. It’s important to understand how each decision in a supply chain impacts another area down the line. This is especially vital for customers who use just in time (JIT) inventory management systems. Currently, we work with customers to align PO patterns with their customers to create the least amount of stress on production and warehousing.
10. Analyze your carriers. At AFN, we expect a lot from our carriers. We adhere to a strict carrier review process to ensure that we only utilize the most professional carriers for our customers’ freight. We only use carriers who have a satisfactory safety record with the FMCSA, or those who have not yet been rated. 

To learn more about how AFN can help your company boost your supply chain sustainability, give us a call at 866-LOAD-AFN.

Most recently, Michelle Curtis and Amanda Keaton were awarded our coveted AFN Employee of the Month status for helping one of our clients fill retail orders on time due to a failure by one of their Canadian carrier and warehousing partners.

Michelle (far left) and Amanda (left) immediately stepped up to resolve this cross-border issue quickly.  Amanda worked on redistributing and re-assigning the orders with our customer, while Michelle located a replacement carrier/warehouse partner for the Canadian freight.  Michelle was ultimately able to find a resolution that encompassed the warehousing, pick and pack, and delivery of the orders, which arrived at the retailer on time. Their hard work and team spirit helped our customer preserve the relationship with the retailer, and spared them costly compliance fines.  Thanks again, Michelle and Amanda!